Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/358

tJKITED STATES P. THE THOUAS W. HATEIT. 851 �part of section 14. This I refused to do, beoause, taking other parts of the statute into the account, it was plaiu that "ail agreements" meant ail those for foreign voyages; that was the ratio decidendi. I added the inoidental remarks npon the difSculty of finding any meaning for that clause, which I still adhere to, and make a part of my decision in this case. The supreme court afiSrmed my decision upon the ground upon which I rested it. U. S. v. The Grace Lothrop, 95 U» S. 527. �There is another point in this case like the principal one in The Grace Lothrop, but not identical with it. Before the Eevised Statutes were passed there would have been no pre- tence for a conviction of the offenee here charged. That statute punished certain things done contrary to its provisions ; apd çontracts for a voyage from Boston to South Amboy were not touched by it. See 1 Holmes, 345. When the revisers put the laws together it was their declared duty and intention not to change them. If, by collocating the law of 1872 with what was left of that of 1790, and using the expression "-con- trary to the provisions of thistitle," insteadof "thi8act,"they have brought coasting ves'sels, making 20 or 30 trips a season, into peril of this enormous penalty of $200 for each seam^-n, instead of $20 and the highest-going rate ofwages, theyhave made a serious mistake. �I think, however, that this section 4515, placed at the end of the provisions concerning foreign voyages, if it can mean anything, means to punish a breach of those provisions, as if it read, seamen engaged or supplied contrary to the provisions hereinbefore made. The subject of coasting voyages istaken up later, and distinct penalties are provided in the very sec- tion 4521 which deals with that subject; namely, that the owners shall pay the highest rate of wages, and the master a penalty of $20. �It is to be remembered that these voyages are of a char- acter requiring no such stringent regulations as are applied to long voyages, and are unable to bear such penalties. The master, more often than not, sails the vessel on shares, fur- ����